Dr Alfred Gusenbauer (born February 8, 1960) has been Chancellor of Austria since January 2007 and the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) since 2000.
Gusenbauer was born in Sankt Pölten in the state of Lower Austria. He was educated at a high school in Wieselburg and studied political science, philosophy and jurisprudence at the University of Vienna, where he gained a doctorate in political science. He has spent his whole professional life in politics, either as an employee of the SPÖ or as a parliamentary representative. He was a senior research fellow in the economic policy department of the Lower Austria Chamber of Labour from 1990 to 1999.
Gusenbauer was federal leader of the SPÖ youth wing, the Socialist Youth (SJ) from 1984 to 1990, vice-president of the Socialist Youth International (IUSY) from 1985 to 1989 and vice-president of the Socialist International in 1989.
In 1991 Gusenbauer was elected SPÖ chairman in Ybbs an der Donau and a member of the Lower Austria party executive. In the same year he was elected to the Bundesrat, the lower house of the Austrian Parliament, as a Deputy for Lower Austria. He was a member of the Austrian delegation to the parliamentary meeting of the Council of Europe in 1991 and was chairman of the social committee of the Council of Europe from 1995 to 1998.
In the Bundesrat Gusenbauer was Chairman of the Committee for Development Co-operation of the from 1996 to 1999. In 2000 he was elected leader of the SPÖ Group in the Bundesrat and also as Secretary-General of the SPÖ. Under his leadership in the 2002 elections the SPÖ improved its vote and gained four seats, but failed to defeat the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) government of Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel.
During 2006 the SPÖ was seriously handicapped by its involvement in the "BAWAG scandal", in which directors of BAWAG, an Austrian bank owned by the Federation of Austrian Trade Unions (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB), were accused of corruption, embezzlement and illicit speculation. The scandal led in March to the resignation of ÖGB head Fritz Verzetnitsch. The SPÖ was not directly involved in the alleged fraud but its close links to the trade unions tarnished the party by association. Gusenbauer was forced to exclude ÖGB leaders from the lists of SPÖ candidates, drawing criticism from the ÖGB.
Shortly before the 1 October 2006 election, polls showed the combined vote for the SPÖ and the Greens slightly lower than that for the ÖVP and the right-wing Freedom Party. Given the split in the Freedom Party, however, the election was regarded as too close to call.
After the election, although the SPÖ was the largest single party, no one party was able to form a majority government, and a grand coalition between the ÖVP and the SPÖ was considered the most likely outcome. After prolonged negotiations, Gusenbauer became Chancellor on January 11, 2007 at the head of an SPÖ-ÖVP coalition.
Gusenbauer immediately received a certain ammount of criticism, because of his decision to break his pre-election promises to abolish university tuition fees, as part of the coalition agreement with the ÖVP. This resulted in student protests and criticism from other parties and even from SPÖ members. |
